Anchor and skin protector for ileostomy bags



arch 117, 1959 J. A. HIGGINS ANCHOR AND SKIN PROTECTOR FOR ILEOSTOMY BAGS Filed 001:. 25, 1957 FIG. 1. FIG. 4.

. INVENTOR. M58855 4. HIGG/NS,

United States Patent AND SKIN PROTECTOR FOR ILEOSTOMY BAGS Jerree A. Higgins, Salt Lake City, Utah Application October 25, 1957, Serial No. 692,428

3 Claims. (Cl. 128-283) ANCHOR mouth thereof receives the stoma, that is the piece of small intestine that protrudes from the abdomen in a case in which one has had an ileostomy. The stoma has a highly liquid discharge and considerable discomfort is ordinarily suffered by one who must wear an ileostomy bag.

conventionally, an ileostomy bag is glued directly to the skin by means of an adhesive having the particular properties necessary to attach the bag to the skin securely. Considerable time is obviously required in effecting the adhesion of the bag to the skin and in many instances a serious irritant is present in the adhesive so far as particular users are concerned, causing eruptions and other irritations and soreness in the skin.

Obviously, in addition further inconveniences result, in that one must be continuously cleaning glue from the ileostomy bag or from the skin. Still further, the user is considerably restricted from normal physical activities.

The main object of the present invention is to provide improvements in ileostomy bag supports which will eliminate the various inconveniences, annoyances, and timeconsuming factors referred to briefly above.

A more particular object is to provide a protector for an ileostomy bag which will be of generally improved construction, and which will be so designed as to insure that the bag, over its entire area, will be held completely out of contact with the skin, thus eliminating the discomfort which is ordinarily encountered by reason of the contact of the rubber material of the bag directly with the skin, this in itself being an irritant to many persons. Another specific object is to so form the protector that it will be held in place without any requirement of using adhesive. In this way, the loss of time and the irritations present in *ventional ileostomy bag. Said coactive relationship is such as to insure that the protector will be held in place relative to the mouth of the bag and to the stoma, with the anchoring device assisting in holding the protector in place while at the same time holding the bag itself in a proper position relative to the remaining components of the device.

Still another object is to provide an improved'closure means for the lower end of the ileostomy bag.

Still another object is to provide an improved protector and anchoring device for ileostomy bags, which will be so designed as to be usable in conjunction with a conventional bag and harness without requiring modification or redesign of said conventional parts. v

w Other objects will appear from the following descrip- 2,877,768 Patented Mar. 17,

tion, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a view showing the invention as it appears when in use;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the protector and anchoring device, in association with a conventional bag support ring, a conventional harness being shown fragmentarily;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 2, on the same scale as Figure 2, with a bag'in place upon the ring; a

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the ring per se; and

Figure 5 is a view on the same cutting plane as Figure 3, showing the lower end of the bag and illustrating the improved closure means for the bag.

Referring to the drawing in detail, designated generally at 10 is an ileostomy bag device or stoma receiver assembly, said assembly comprising the entire device, that is, the bag, harness, the protector and the anchoring device.

The skin protector comprising part of the present invention has been designated at 12, and comprises a wide, vertically elongated pad of a soft, highly absorbent material, such as a flannel fabric. The pad is of an appreciable thickness, as shown in Figure 3, sufilcient to prevent discomfort that might otherwise result by pressure of the bag support ring and other components of the device against the skin in the immediate vicinity of the opening through which the stoma, not shown, projects. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the pad has rounded ends as shown in Figure 2, and in addition, the pad might be progressively, though slightly, increased in width in a direction from each end toward its mid-length portion.

The protector can be formed in various ways. For example, it may comprise a plurality of laminations of a soft cotton flannel, stitched together at their registering peripheries by a continuous line of stitching 13. Then again, the pad could comprise covering laminations of flannel, forming an interior pocket in which might be disposed a still more absorbent material, such as gauze, a cotton padding, etc. Except as necessarily required by the scope of the appended claims, it is not desired that I be restricted to any particular type of material, other than that the material be comfortable to the skin, and be possessed of a relatively high degree of softness and absorbency, while still being capable of manufacture at sufliciently low cost. In fact, the protector in a typical situation would be changed approximately three times each day, since the stoma, which extends through an opening 14 of the protector, has a highly liquid discharge or secretion which is absorbed by the protector, due to the fact that the stoma is in contact with the edge of the opening.

The opening can also be. reinforced, through stitching 15 extending thereabout.

The opening 14 is proportioned to receive the stoma, and accordingly the stoma will itself serve as one of the components that holds the protector12 in place.

Designated at 16 is an ileostomy bag support ring which is per se conventional. The ring 16 is fiat, and is formed of metal or of other substantially rigid material, having a stiffness which holds the ring in shape, In other words, the material of which the ring is formed is semi-rigid and in this connection, the ring is in and of itself a conventional part of an ileostomy device.

Ring 16 is flat, and unbroken through its full circumference, and is disposed in overlying relation to the protector 12 in concentric relation to the opening 14.

A harness, also constituting a conventional part of an ileostomy bag assembly, has been generally designated at 17 and includes a short, elastic belt portion 18, and an ,elongatedbelt portion 19 that extends fully aboutthe waist. These are connected by a buckle 20 so as to be adjusted to fit the waist of the user.

Carried by the ring 16, at locations angularly spaced about the ring at opposite sides of and above the center, are forwardly projecting gripper fastener elements 22, 24. In the illustrated embodiment, male elements are carried by the ring, while mating female elements 26, 28 are carried by the belt portions 18, 19 respectively (see Figure 2).

Also constituting part of the present invention is an anchoring device generally designated 29. The anchoring device includes, at its upper end, a forwardly, downwardly' turned hook 30, formed of a single, flattened, wide piece of thin metal or plastic. The body portion of the hook is progressively widened in a downward direction, and adjacent its lower extremity has a transversely extending, elongated closed slot 32.

The anchoring device further includes an elastic loop 34, which is adapted to encircle one of the users thighs as shown in Figure 1. Loop 34 is of a highly elastic material, and at its upper end, adjacent portions of the loop are stitched together in superposed relation, providing a small attaching loop member 36 (see Figure 3) passing through slot 32 to connect the hook to the loop,

said loop member being formed by transverse lines of stitching 37 passing through the superposed, adjacent portions of the loop material.

A conventional ileostomy bag has been designated at 38 and is of vertically elongated, wide, generally flattened formation with rounded ends. The bag 38 is formed of a thin, highly flexible rubber or similar material, and as is usual, has an inlet opening or mouth 39 formed in its inside wall adjacent the upper end of the bag. Extending about the mouth 39 is an outwardly directed, continuous lip 40, formed upon a low neck 42 that extends through the ring 16 with ring 16 bearing firmly against the lip or flange 40 as clearly shown in Figure 3.

In accordance with the present invention, and as shown in Figure 5, bag 38 at its lower end is formed open, with the front and back walls of the bag having superposed, narrowed extensions 44 constituting a tongue portion foldable upon itself to close the bag at the lower end thereof. To the inside or back wall 45 of the bag a pair of vertically spaced, identical, endless elastic bands 46 are secured, as for example by adhesive 48. The bands project forwardly from the reduced lower end portion 44 of the wall 45, so that on folding of the superposed portions 44 upon themselves, said portions can be forced through the bands 46, which stretch to accommodate the same. This closes the bag at the lower end thereof, while at the same time permitting the same to be opened with maximum ease and speed whenever desired.

Thus, bag 38 is conventional so far as the parts there- -of shown in Figure 3 are' concerned, but the portions shown in Figure at the lower end of the bag are prepared in accordance with the invention. The bag is in overlying relation, over its full area, to the protector 12, as shown in Figure 1, so that the bag at no point contacts the skin.

Due to the use of the anchor, the bag is held down, since the ring itself is held firmly against the protector at the lowermost part of the ring. This keeps the bagfrom flipping upwardly when the user is stooping or bending over.

Also of'importance is the fact that the anchoring device-has downwardly divergent front parts of theloop "against the skin, and sliding of the protect'orlaterally or longitudinally on the skin is of course preventedby the stoma itself which fits through the opening 14. Thus, the anchoring device, harness and stoma all cooperate to hold the protector in place without requiring glue. Then, since the anchoring device is connected directly to the ring 16, along with the harness 17, the ring itself is held in place relative to the protector, and thisin turn results in the bag 38 being properly positioned relative to the ring and to the protector. All this is achieved without adhesive or similar means, and at the same time, the protector itself is readily removed without complete removal of the entire device, if desired. In other words, after disengagement of the protector from the stoma, the protector can be moved upwardly or downwardly relative to the ring, harness, or anchoring device. This is desirable since the protector itself must be changed approximately three times per day, due to its absorption of the secretion issuing from the stoma.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stoma receiver the combination, with a waistencircling harness, a bag support ring connected to said harness, and an ileostomy bag connected to said ring, of: an elastic, thigh-encircling loop; means on the loop for connecting the same to said ring, comprising a forwardly, downwardly opening hook removably engaged withthe lowermost portion of the ring; and a soft, protective pad underlying the harness and loop and having a stoma-receiving aperture communicating with said bag, for holding of the pad by the stoma, ring, loop, and harness in position between the bag and the skin of the user.

2. In a stoma receiver the combination, with 21 waistencircling harness, a bag support ring connected to said harness, and an ileostomy bag connected to said ring, of: an elastic, thigh-encircling loop; means on the loop for connecting the same to said ring, comprising a forwardly, downwardly opening hook removably engaged with the lowermost portion of the ring, said loop including a small loop member extending through the hook to permanently connect the loop to the hook; and a soft, protective pad underlying the harness and loop and having a stoma-receiving aperture communicating with said bag, for holding of the pad by the stoma, ring, loop, and harness in position between the bag and the skin of the user.

3. In a stoma receiver the combination, with a waistencircling harness, a bag support ring connected to said harness, and an ileostomy bag connected to said ring, of: an elastic, thigh-encircling loop; means on the loop for connecting the same to said ring; and a soft, protective pad underlying the harness and loop and having a stoma-receiving aperture communicating with said bag, for holding of the pad by the stoma, ring, loop, and harness in position between the bag and the skin of the user, said pad being elongated in a vertical direction and being so proportioned as to area as tospace the bag out of contact with the skin over the full length and width of the bag.

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,441,508 Porcell May 11, 1948 2,489,016 Diadul Nov. 22,1949 2,516,391 Jolly July 25, 1950 2,814,295 'Hasse "Nov. 26, 1957 

